We are planning on hiking into the crater at Haleakala on Maui. This is not going to be easy. First off – the altitude. The trail starts at visitors center which is at 9774 ft. The hike down will take us to about 8400ft. Coming back up is going to be a gruel – both with the thin air but also the slippery sliding pumice. Also no shade.

I’ve been walking and hiking to get in shape. We’ve been able to do 3 hike2 (one a week) in October. These have been usually 5 miles with about 1500 ft gain – just about what we plan on doing.

I’ve also been walking around the Edmonds bowl. Usually I walk along the waterfront which is flat but I’ve switch to going up towards the top of the crest above Edmonds. I have been using MapMyWalk website to get ideas, plan my walk and measure my mileage. It has been a great tool. Today I did a four mile walk that I found from the suggested walks. It was a beautiful day. I started downtown – parked right across from Rick Steves and the walked over to Walnut and the up to Yost Park. Then turn south and then back to down to the sound on Pine. The view was gorgeous. The Olympics were all dusted with snow. We had an early storm and it brought snow to all the mountains. Mt Rainier where I hiked last week had 18 inches! How quickly it changes.

I walked all the way to the waterfront where I was greeted with the beautiful scene in the picture above. I walked along the marina and then back up to my car. It took me an hour and half. Not great but a good workout. And I got about 400 ft elevation workout on the way up.